chilaquiles

Things are pretty uneventful around here lately.  We did the Thanksgiving thing. We put our tree up.  And, we have started our school year.  All things you already know, assuming you have read my blog during the past week.

We are just chugging along trying to stay warm.  I've moved my work space to my bedroom so I can stay under the electric blanket while I work.  Thankfully I have a printer that allows me to print via   wi-fi!  So, I can have the laptop in bed with me. 

I was trying to think of something I can make for a quick lunch.  I remembered I bought tomatoes and chips to make chilaquiles. 

I'm sure there are many different ways to make them, but I tend to like the version that I found in Rick Bayless's cookbook, Authentic Mexican.  It's funny because I bought that cookbook while living in the US but never got around to using it until I moved down here.  (That cookbook is also where I got my enchilada recipe.)

I don't really measure anything, but I can give you my estimate measurements.  They are pretty simple to make so I never look in the book anymore.  And, that is one thing nice about most Mexican cooking, the measurements are sort of jumping off points.  Adjust as you like. 

Ingredients:

6 to 8 Roma tomatoes, boiled and skins removed
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a small onion, roughly chopped
1 Serrano pepper
1-2 Tbsp veg oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 chicken broth cube  (or a cup of chicken stock)
Chips

Toppings:

sour cream
crumbly cheese
and whatever else you like (chicken, onions, cabbage, lettuce...you get the point)

First, start by cutting an "x" on the bottom of each tomato and put in a pan full of water.  Let boil until skins start to peel off.

Once they are ready to peel, peel the skins off.  Put the tomatoes in a blender with the onion, garlic and Serrano pepper.

Blend all of the ingredients together until is is smooth.  Grab that chicken broth cube and throw it in a cup of water.  Microwave it for a few minutes until it dissolves.

Grab the pan you used for boiling the tomatoes (empty out the water) and put the oil in the pan.  Heat the oil then pour the blended liquid into the pan.  Let it cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring every once in a while.  The color will darken a bit.

Once it has changed color to an organish red, add the salt and the chicken broth to the pan.  Cook for another 4 or 5 minutes. 

You can make your own chips like I did in this post, or you can do the short cut, which I love, and buy some chips at the store.  They have chips specifically for chilaquiles. Kind of nice!

Take some of the salsa that you just made and put into a bigger pan that will allow for you to toss some chips around.  Put the pan over medium heat.  I don't like my chips to be soggy at all, so I just toss them around for a minute or so.  Just long enough to coat the chips and warm them.  At this point you can add other ingredients if you like, but I keep mine simple when doing them for myself.

I just put sour cream and the cheese on mine.  I like to keep it easy and simple.  If we are doing chilaquiles for dinner some night, I might add chicken and additional toppings would be onion and lettuce.

Put the chips on a plate, put your toppings on and you have a simple meal/snack.

I'm off to eat these now.  You can't let them sit very long or they will get cold and soggy!  And I don't like soggy!